DESTRUCTION OF EELS

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22851, 26 October 1939, Page 3

DESTRUCTION OF EELS

EXPERIMENT IN SOUTHLAND

' ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY

TO INQUIRE

Inquiries are to be made by the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society into the possibility of eliminating eels from the streams in its district. At the meeting of the council of the society last evening, members spoke particularly of the depredations of eels among young grey ducks. Mr A. G. Familton, who introduced the subject, said that he would like to see the society do something to eradicate eels altogether. The Southland Acclimatisation Society, he understood, has conducted a campaign during which a large number of eels ■Were killed. Professor E. Percival said that the Southland society had destroyed eels in one of its rivers, and during the period of the experiment, 13,000 eels were caught. It was very expensive, and he suggested that the society should go carefully into costs before acting, as any scheme would need at least one man full time on every river, and there would also be expenditure on traps and other gear. As the eel did not breed in fresh water, if one stream were cleared, it would very soon become re-stocked.

. Mr C. H. Lawrence suggested that it would be difficult to catch the big, old eels that were mainly responsible for the destruction of ducklings ber cause generally they lived under banks and would not come near traps. It was decided to apply to the Department of Internal Affairs for information of the Southland society’s experiment.